Because of the current energy crisis and increased fuel costs, many people are returning to the use of woodburning stoves and/or fireplaces to heat their homes. Many varieties of wood stoves and freestanding fireplaces are now available in the marketplace. Concurrently with the increased use of such stoves has come an increase in the number and types of accessories for use with them. There are numerous types of lighters, wood storage equipment, cleaning equipment and the like now available. Ash removal equipment is, however, limited to long existing and well-known types of shovels, scoops, etc., for use in removing ashes from the firepits of the stoves or fireplaces.
A review of the prior art directed to ash shovels reveals U.S. Patent to Peebles U.S. Pat. No. 1,762,347, which is an ash shovel that includes a scoop and a hinged lid thereon. There is an elongated handle having a lidoperating rod 15 extending therealong and terminating at a control handle 16. While this shovel is disclosed for use in removing ahses from firepits of stoves or fireplaces, there are several disadvantages making it unsatisfactory in use. These disadvantages include (1) the elongated handle; (2) the awkwardness of the control handle; (3) the sharply inclined sidewalls; (4) lack of an auxiliary handle for carrying in the closed position; and (5) sharp front edge which can snag on fire brick.
Looking at the first two disadvantages, it can be seen that to control the shovel requires that both hands be securely on the elongated handle. However, one hand must be available to grasp the handle on the lid control rod. The simultaneous control of both the shovel handle and the lid control is quite awkward at best. With regard to the sharp decline or slope of the sidewalls, this factor is seen to affect the capacity of the shovel in that most of the ashes must be retained toward the back of the shovel. Although the lid includes deeper sidewalls in FIGS. 3 and 4, many ashes will fall off the forward end of the scoop before the lid can be closed.
The present invention is directed to an ash shovel having a scoop portion of improved depth, a hinged lid, bilateral rear handles and cooperative lid control means, beveled front end of the bottom wall and a flexible auxilary handle for carrying the shovel while closed from one place to another. The improved ash shovel includes sidewalls of a depth to maximize capacity, and it is of an overall width approximately equal to that of the inside dimensions of the firepit opening.
Constructed of a sheet metal material, the shovel includes a scoop portion having rear and sidewalls of substantially equal depth, and an open front and top. A lid is hingedly connected to the rear wall and overlies the top and front of the scoop when in a closed position.
A pair of shortened, horizontally spaced handles are attached to the outer surface of the rear wall. Lid control means, in a preferred embodiment is an elongated tab attached to and extending rearwardly from the edge of the lid at a midpoint between the handles. In an alternative embodiment the tabs are spaced slightly inwardly from and above the aforementioned handles. Either tab arrangement is such that the handles may be gripped by the fingers and the tabs simultaneously depressed by the thumb or thumbs.
The optional, but desired auxiliary handle which is used in carrying the ash shovel from one place to another, includes a flexible chain or cable extending from both sides and at spaced points on the rear wall of the shovel for grasping and carrying from above the shovel.
During use in gathering ashes the ash shovel is gripped by the bilateral handle means with the thumb or thumbs being used to depress the lid control tab or tabs to raise the lid. During this time the flexible auxiliary handle is released and essentially out of the way. The shovel is then pushed into the ashes in the firepit. The beveled front end facilitates movement of the bottom wall across the floor of the firebox. The lid control is released to close the lid and the shovel full of ashes is removed for dumping without spreading smoke or dust. Preferably, but not necessarily, the width of the shovel is substantially equal to the inner dimensions of the firepit. Such width coupled with the uniform depth of the sidewalls allows the cleaning operation to be performed in one exercise. There is no necessity to return the shovel to the firepit to clean along the sidewalls thereof.